Fire breaks out on container ship in North Sea

An emergency response was under way after a fire broke out in the engine room of a container ship in the North Sea, the Dutch coastguard has said.

The Victoria L, which was carrying 19 crew members, was around 56km (34 miles) from the coast of the Netherlands when the blaze broke out. Lifeboats were deployed from Scheveningen and Hook of Holland in the Netherlands and a coastguard helicopter was on standby on a nearby drilling platform in case it was needed for evacuations.

The Dutch coastguard has not provided an update on the status of the crew members but it did not report any injuries. Local media had said there was an explosion on the ship but this was not reported by the Dutch coastguard in its live updates on the fire and its response.

A fire service team was transported to the scene by helicopter after the captain of the Victoria L requested assistance, the coastguard reported at 3.17pm local time (2.17pm UK time). It added in an update at 5.16pm local time (4.16pm UK time) that firefighters had entered the engine room and put the blaze out.

The coastguard also said the situation is now "under control" and "most units" are returning to the mainland. It added the ship, which had reportedly set off from Hamburg in Germany, was now expected to "sail to Rotterdam itself".

The coastguard had earlier said before the fire that one of its aircraft had been flying over to "gather images" and reported "little to no smoke development can be seen". Two emergency response tugs and an oil response vessel were also sent to the scene as part of the response.

The Victoria L was not carrying any cargo at the time of the fire. Read more:Man murdered woman at Notting Hill CarnivalWhat French brandy makers think of Trump tariffsFive police cars involved in crash The container ship is Liberian-flagged and is around 161 metres long and 25 metres wide, according to MarineTraffic.

The fire comes around a month after a container ship crashed into a tanker in the North Sea - causing a huge fire on both vessels. The container ship, named Solong, smashed into the Stena Immaculate around 12 miles off the coast of East Yorkshire at a speed of about 16 knots (around 18.4mph).

Rescuers saved 36 crew members from both ships but one sailor - named as Filipino national Mark Angelo Pernia, 38 - remains missing from the Solong and is presumed dead..